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Mariner of The Seas 12/16/07 - 12/23/07 Part 1

Ronrocks!

By Ronrocks!,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Mariner of The Seas

12/16/07 - 12/23/07

About Us

Our family consist of myself, 35, Staci 41, Caitlen 17, and Lexi 15. We live in Charleston, SC not far from where I was born. Or hatched As a family I would like to think we are pretty unsophisticated . We don’t expect much nor do we like anyone to make much of a fuss over us. Our two teenage girls monsters like most girls are boy crazy. While this was a little bit of a problem on the cruise, I found that once you caught one of the little boys hormones with legs and duct taped him to the railing, the rest want nothing to do with your daughters. While planning the cruise I was worried that the girls would not have a good time. Both can be a bit shy and I was worried that they would not make friends. On day two I was wishing this was still the case when I saw the line of boys following them across the pool deck. They caught the scent

Pre-Cruise

Prior to the cruise we spent two nights at the Radisson Resort at the Port. I can’t say enough good things about this place. We were checked in by a 300 pound man with a German accent. I can’t remember his name now so I will call him Honz. In person I called him Sir Despite his Mariner-like size he was a nice young man. We were promptly and pleasantly checked in to our room. We had reserved a Jacuzzi suit with a view of the port. If you chose to stay here please keep in mind that this is Florida. The décor screams tropical. it also screams blind interior decorator Once in the room I quickly found all the important things to be in functioning order, those being the TV, bathroom and sleep number bed. Now this hole sleep number thing kinda confused me. I am from the country where we didn’t have all this fancy stuff. The last time I saw a bed that had buttons I was strapped to it. Needless to say I kept that little box under the bed for safety reasons. The pool here was awesome. It’s heated think peeing in the pool I spent the better part of Saturday lounging by the pool sipping Rum Runners he spent the better part of that night passed out on the bed because alcohol doesn’t go with pain killers…..rocket scientist! Before I knew it Sunday morning had arrived! I jumped out of bed, threw the curtains open wide and quickly realized two disturbing things. One, it was raining outside and two I was naked!! oops? As soon as I realized this I did what any normal man would do…..I put on my moose slippers because my feet were cold. Oh and to be polite I waved to the folks in the parking lot. Take a picture it last longer Once my feet were nice and warm I turned on the local news. The weather reports were not good. Severe thunderstorms through most of the morning and early afternoon. Despite that I was not going to let it bother me. Everyone rolled out of bed around 8. We got all our luggage together and tagged for the cruise. Kitchen sink After the girls got everything packed up and in ordered I called the front desk to have our things brought down. That was the last time I saw our luggage until later that night. The staff at the Radisson has it all together. I am hear to tell you it was as worry free as it can be. I didn’t have to haul anything around which would have been a problem with my back. All I had to do was show up. We left our car at the Radisson while we went on vacation. You can’t beat that!! I would highly recommend the Radisson to anyone looking for a pre or post cruise stay pay me enough and I will recommend you too Should we ever leave out of Port Canaveral again I will stay with them again.

Embarkation

Embarkation was fairly smooth. At least as smooth as herding 3,100 people from all over the world into one place can be. The lines were long but moved fairly quickly. Unlike DMV While being a smooth process it did kind of remind me of corralling our cattle when I was a kid. Wont tell you what we did to them next but I can tell you that going on a cruise was much more pleasant than what happened to the cattle All in all we were probably in line for an hour at most. Once on board I quickly located all the important parts of the ship, the bathrooms, the state rooms, and the food, once again all functioned properly.

 

To be continued …

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Mariner of The Seas



 

12/16/07 - 12/23/07

About Us

Our family consist of myself, 35, Staci 41, Caitlen 17, and Lexi 15. We live in Charleston, SC not far from where I was born. Or hatched As a family I would like to think we are pretty unsophisticated . We don’t expect much nor do we like anyone to make much of a fuss over us. Our two teenage girls monsters like most girls are boy crazy. While this was a little bit of a problem on the cruise, I found that once you caught one of the little boys hormones with legs and duct taped him to the railing, the rest want nothing to do with your daughters. While planning the cruise I was worried that the girls would not have a good time. Both can be a bit shy and I was worried that they would not make friends. On day two I was wishing this was still the case when I saw the line of boys following them across the pool deck. They caught the scent

Pre-Cruise

Prior to the cruise we spent two nights at the Radisson Resort at the Port. I can’t say enough good things about this place. We were checked in by a 300 pound man with a German accent. I can’t remember his name now so I will call him Honz. In person I called him Sir Despite his Mariner-like size he was a nice young man. We were promptly and pleasantly checked in to our room. We had reserved a Jacuzzi suit with a view of the port. If you chose to stay here please keep in mind that this is Florida. The décor screams tropical. it also screams blind interior decorator Once in the room I quickly found all the important things to be in functioning order, those being the TV, bathroom and sleep number bed. Now this hole sleep number thing kinda confused me. I am from the country where we didn’t have all this fancy stuff. The last time I saw a bed that had buttons I was strapped to it. Needless to say I kept that little box under the bed for safety reasons. The pool here was awesome. It’s heated think peeing in the pool I spent the better part of Saturday lounging by the pool sipping Rum Runners he spent the better part of that night passed out on the bed because alcohol doesn’t go with pain killers…..rocket scientist! Before I knew it Sunday morning had arrived! I jumped out of bed, threw the curtains open wide and quickly realized two disturbing things. One, it was raining outside and two I was naked!! oops? As soon as I realized this I did what any normal man would do…..I put on my moose slippers because my feet were cold. Oh and to be polite I waved to the folks in the parking lot. Take a picture it last longer Once my feet were nice and warm I turned on the local news. The weather reports were not good. Severe thunderstorms through most of the morning and early afternoon. Despite that I was not going to let it bother me. Everyone rolled out of bed around 8. We got all our luggage together and tagged for the cruise. Kitchen sink After the girls got everything packed up and in ordered I called the front desk to have our things brought down. That was the last time I saw our luggage until later that night. The staff at the Radisson has it all together. I am hear to tell you it was as worry free as it can be. I didn’t have to haul anything around which would have been a problem with my back. All I had to do was show up. We left our car at the Radisson while we went on vacation. You can’t beat that!! I would highly recommend the Radisson to anyone looking for a pre or post cruise stay pay me enough and I will recommend you too Should we ever leave out of Port Canaveral again I will stay with them again.

Embarkation

Embarkation was fairly smooth. At least as smooth as herding 3,100 people from all over the world into one place can be. The lines were long but moved fairly quickly. Unlike DMV While being a smooth process it did kind of remind me of corralling our cattle when I was a kid. Wont tell you what we did to them next but I can tell you that going on a cruise was much more pleasant than what happened to the cattle All in all we were probably in line for an hour at most. Once on board I quickly located all the important parts of the ship, the bathrooms, the state rooms, and the food, once again all functioned properly.

 

To be continued …

 

Cabins

As I mentioned earlier it doesn’t take too much to impress us. This being my first cruise on RCCL and only my second cruise period Carnival Liberty I wasn’t sure what to expect. We were in 6316 which is a balcony room on the “hump”. The room had all the important things, a bed, a pooper, and a TV. The balcony was just a bonus. The beds were very comfortable and they had no buttons or anything for me to worry about. I am not the largest guy in the world. 6’ tall and about 235 pre cruise the bathrooms were a little cramped to say the least. The shower reminded me of a coffin with a sliding door . If you drop your soap in this shower you don’t have to worry about bending over to pick it up, you can’t. Trust me I tried. Other than that everything worked fine. The water was wet, and the towels dry. I don’t due this often but I am going to offer those of you who have never cruised before a word of advice. Ladies….if you have a man who’s favorite excursion is sitting on the toilet do yourself a favor. TAKE GLADE!!! Or as Staci did take several air fresheners. Trust me….the odor wont stop at the bathroom door. Thank god for the balcony!! The girls were in a Promenade room just down the hall. It was much like ours but different. It didn’t take long before it looked just like their rooms at home. Disaster area

The Ship

The ship was beautiful. Not loud and flashy like the Carnival Liberty. The crew keeps her looking beautiful. It is hard to believe that she is 4 years old. Not that 4 years is a long time but if you think of all the passengers that she has had it is amazing. I wish my house were kept up as well. And came with a room steward, cook, and traveled the Caribbean

The Food

The food was edible for the most part. I wasn’t expecting anything awesome. Staci I think was expecting more because her father had sailed with RCCL once and told her the food was awesome. her fathers favorite food is bread I will say the food in the dinning room was better than expected. I don’t understand how people can complain so much about the food in the dining room and Windjammer. To those people I say what do you expect? They cook meals for over 3,000 people. Do you really expect the eggs not to be powdered? duh? That being said they do offer plenty of fresh fruits to chose from. Not to mention Jade was a pretty good alternative. If you want a pretty decent steak try Chops. I loved it.

The down side to the food is I got food poisoning on the second night. I am not sure what I ate but I know it was from the Windjammer. Tasted like the nachos when it came back up.

Room Service

I would love to tell you something positive about room service but I am still waiting for my meal to arrive. We ordered room service 3 times and I am still waiting. However, I have been assured that it will be here any minute now….

The Islands

Our cruise was of the Western Caribbean which included Libadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Libadee was nice and relaxing. Of course I was up all night with food poisoning so I had no choice but to relax. I was plopped down in a beach chair and that is wear I stayed. However, from what I could see through my eyelids was beautiful!! I have heard complaints about the some of the locals being pushy with setting up chairs and selling things. I can tell you that we didn’t have that problem. They did set up our chairs but they were not rude about it. The girls went shopping and said they had no problem with the vendors. The one thing that we did find funny was that some of the merchandise originally had Hawaii on it but the ‘waii” was crossed out and replaced with Haiti. Made in China

Jamaica. I was still sick this day. The only reason I went ashore is because I was concerned about the girls safety. I’ve read plenty on how unsafe Jamaica is. While I am not one to jump to conclusions or be over protective I can see where Jamaica can be very unsafe. However, I can also think of many places in the U.S that are just as unsafe. In Jamaica we booked Bob Marley’s house with Marva Shaw. While Marva was great I will never go up in the mountains of Jamaica again. This was the only safety concern I had with Jamaica. The roads are terrible up in the mountains. It’s amazing to see how the people live. On the other hand my girls also got to see how fortunate they are to live in such a nice place. As far as the Bob Marley House. I wouldn’t waste my time with it. It’s just one big tourist trap. You pay $45.00 to see where Bob sat on a rock and got stoned all the time. Not to mention all the people sitting around getting stoned. Don’t waist your time! The port area is very dirty for the most part. If I find myself back there on another cruise chances are I will stay on the boat. Should we decide to do something there I will use Marva Shaw again.

Grand Cayman Up all night sick. Stayed in bed all day while the girls went to shop. My favorite excursion on this day was the toilet. Long ride…not very pleasant.

Cozumel I felt much better today. The girls and I went into town shopping. As far as ports go Cozumel was my favorite. It was just a relaxing day. We strolled down the street spending my money. What’s not to enjoy? I only wish we had more time. We purchased some alcohol, and some rings for the girls. Staci, did a shot of something that cleared up her cold. So it was a good day.

My only real issues on this cruise other than room service was that of the sales agents. While on board we tried to put down a deposit towards our next cruise. We spoke with the agent who was very rude and simply told us that unless we knew what cruise we wanted it wouldn’t be worth his time to look. He told us that his computer was moving to slow and to look when we got home. When I explained to him we just wanted to put down a deposit for a future cruise in general we were told again to do it from home. I was told that we could still get the on board credit. On the last night of the cruise I checked with another agent who was there. She told me that he told me wrong. When I asked if she could help she said she was too far behind in her bookings to help me. This kind of took me by surprise. I thought they would be happy to help, but this was not the case. Up until that night was almost certain I wanted to try RCCL again despite the minor issue of room service and food poisoning. I went back to my room discouraged and disappointed, not how I wanted to end my cruise.

Conclusion

All in all I am glad I got the chance to share this experience with the people I love the most. I’ve been on CC for a little while now and I’ve read many reviews and researched many things. Sometimes I feel like people lose site of what’s important. For me the most important thing was seeing those people I love the most smile. Sure this cruise wasn’t a perfect experience for me personally, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The people I was with made that week one of the high lights of my life. Not to mention meeting the people on our roll call. I feel like I’ve made some great friends on this trip. People I hope I will be able to keep in touch with. It’s amazing how many CC members take the time out of their day to share experiences and advice on a wide variety of topics. They unselfishly give this so others can make the most out of their cruising experience. I for one have enjoyed this site. For me CC is half of the cruising experience. For the past year I’ve looked forward to posting, and reading on our roll call. So to all of you who use this site and take the time to post, to the community managers and host, thank you for your time!!! Happy Cruising!!

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Arizona Laura

Arizona Laura

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Going on the Mariner Jan 13th Western Caribbean. Will make sure we stay away from the Nachos. Being a nurse (nine of us going are) wasn't too grossed out with your review, but it was well detailed. Sorry you got ill. Sounds like you were a trooper though. Thanks for the cabin number. Like to know cabin numbers. Enjoyed your review...good job.

 

Glad we did not book excursion in OR.

 

I don't expect great food, just good food in the DR or Windjammer. I do however expect very good food in the specialty restaurants.

Bummer ordering room service, waiting, and not getting 3 times. Maybe we should order on Sunday what we may want later in the week.

 

Hoping for you there are many more cruises in the future.

 

Thanks Laura

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Going on the Mariner Jan 13th Western Caribbean. Will make sure we stay away from the Nachos. Being a nurse (nine of us going are) wasn't too grossed out with your review, but it was well detailed. Sorry you got ill. Sounds like you were a trooper though. Thanks for the cabin number. Like to know cabin numbers. Enjoyed your review...good job.

 

Glad we did not book excursion in OR.

 

I don't expect great food, just good food in the DR or Windjammer. I do however expect very good food in the specialty restaurants.

Bummer ordering room service, waiting, and not getting 3 times. Maybe we should order on Sunday what we may want later in the week.

 

Hoping for you there are many more cruises in the future.

 

Thanks Laura

 

Yeah being a firefighter/EMT for 8 years not much grosses me out. I knew that night that it was food poisoning and it was going to get worse before it got better. Tried not to let it spoil my good time. It didn't...just delayed it a little!!:D

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megr1125

megr1125

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nice review..thanks for posting!

 

sorry about the nasty future cruise/loyalty people! honestly, it might be worth a call to customer service or an email to adam goldstein recounting the poor service from the future cruise consultant.....RC is losing at least 4 passengers.....and if all you did was put down $100 to get a NextCruise credit and your OBC down the road, RC would be getting interest on that money!

 

on a lighter note, my mom and i are still crying from the humor in the review!

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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nice review..thanks for posting!

 

sorry about the nasty future cruise/loyalty people! honestly, it might be worth a call to customer service or an email to adam goldstein recounting the poor service from the future cruise consultant.....RC is losing at least 4 passengers.....and if all you did was put down $100 to get a NextCruise credit and your OBC down the road, RC would be getting interest on that money!

 

on a lighter note, my mom and i are still crying from the humor in the review!

 

I have thought about sending an e-mail. However, I am not sure of his e-mail address. I did send an e-mail to the RCCL agent I booked with to see if she can do something about it. I would love to give RCCL another chance because they have beautiful ships. However, every time I think of that cruise consultant I want to duct tape him to the anchore.

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kittymom65

kittymom65

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Excellent review, it reminded me of when Chevy Chase used to do Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.

 

Sorry about your misfortune with the Nachos. I have only had food poisoning twice in my life, and I cannot imagine having to endure it on a cruise ship, especially in the tiny little bathrooms. Note to self: stay away from the Nachos!

 

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise in spite of the bad things, and hope you give RC another try.

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Excellent review, it reminded me of when Chevy Chase used to do Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.

 

Sorry about your misfortune with the Nachos. I have only had food poisoning twice in my life, and I cannot imagine having to endure it on a cruise ship, especially in the tiny little bathrooms. Note to self: stay away from the Nachos!

 

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise in spite of the bad things, and hope you give RC another try.

 

 

Well you know what they say. "Life gives you a lemon you make lemonade". In this case life gave me food poisoning only two things you can make out of food poisoning and I made plenty of both:o

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missliad

missliad

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We are booked with Marva Shaw for the Nine Mile excursion too and I guess it is too late to change, although I have read other positive reviews. In any event, thanks for sharing your thoughts and your in-depth review! We will be on this ship in 2 days!!! :D

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Arizona Laura

Arizona Laura

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As a firefighter I try not to put open flame on gas. I would hate to be the next person they found floating naked in the ocean.:o

 

Don't worry..no one would be able to identify you. By the time they got your dental records and knew you were Ronrocks the story would be off the front pages and Greta and Nancy would have stopped talking about it.:D

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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We are booked with Marva Shaw for the Nine Mile excursion too and I guess it is too late to change, although I have read other positive reviews. In any event, thanks for sharing your thoughts and your in-depth review! We will be on this ship in 2 days!!! :D

 

Oh you will love Marva Shaw, she is great. I will tell you this. The trip up to nine mile should be an excursion in itself. I run inot burning buildings for a living and I've never been more scared then the ride up to nine. My backside was puckered up so tight they had to pry me off the seat with a prybar.:eek: I ruined a good pair of boxers that day and car seat So you have a good time on the trip. My advice take an extra pair of shorts. When you get there fight the urge to get out and kiss the ground....remember you still have to go back down the mountain:D

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Don't worry..no one would be able to identify you. By the time they got your dental records and knew you were Ronrocks the story would be off the front pages and Greta and Nancy would have stopped talking about it.:D

 

Dental records...that's funny. I live in the south...what dental records?? What are the chances they will find my tooth in the big ocean. he has a tattoo with his mothers name on his butt...

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GeckoGirl

GeckoGirl

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Thanks for the funny review, we are booked for the Western Caribbean on the Mariner in Sept and are really looking forward to it.

 

Sorry to hear about the food poisoning but it sounds like you didn't let it ruin your cruise and that is great.

 

Can't believe the future cruise rep/LA was so unhelpful. One thing we did, which was actually advice from one of the CC members was to book the "Next Cruise" the first day of the cruise. We did that on the Sovereign, went down at 6:00, ship left port at 5:00 so after having the sail away drinks and enjoying the view of going out to sea, we went to the LA and there was no one else around, we sat and talked with her and she was awesome, probably becuase she wasn't stressed out from multiple appts yet LOL. She gave us our OBC, we actually booked our Mariner cruise and she gave me friends certs for OBC for them.

 

So I plan on doing it that way on the Mariner too.

 

Anyone know a good and reliable tour company on Grand Cayman that does the turtle farm and Hell?

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Thanks for the funny review, we are booked for the Western Caribbean on the Mariner in Sept and are really looking forward to it.

 

Sorry to hear about the food poisoning but it sounds like you didn't let it ruin your cruise and that is great.

 

Can't believe the future cruise rep/LA was so unhelpful. One thing we did, which was actually advice from one of the CC members was to book the "Next Cruise" the first day of the cruise. We did that on the Sovereign, went down at 6:00, ship left port at 5:00 so after having the sail away drinks and enjoying the view of going out to sea, we went to the LA and there was no one else around, we sat and talked with her and she was awesome, probably becuase she wasn't stressed out from multiple appts yet LOL. She gave us our OBC, we actually booked our Mariner cruise and she gave me friends certs for OBC for them.

 

So I plan on doing it that way on the Mariner too.

 

Anyone know a good and reliable tour company on Grand Cayman that does the turtle farm and Hell?

 

You will love the ship. She is beautiful. As far as Grand Cayman I've used Nativeway. It was a few years ago but they were great. You may also want to look at the Grand Cayman thread. Another excursion company would be Island Marketing. They are pretty big. Hope this helps!!

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Ronrocks!

Ronrocks!

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Hi Lounge Lizard:

 

It's Renaissancelady...how the heck are you...I am looking for a cruise for next year...I now live in CA...have you ever been to the Mex. Riveria...any comments...write back...would love to catch up on all gossip...

 

 

Sorry Lizards on the next thread over. No reptiles here. We do have a nice selection of CC members here though. no refunds

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sandiegonadal

sandiegonadal

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Hi LL:

 

Remember me...Renaissancelady....I now live in CA....how the heck are you...of course I am looking to take another cruise...looking at Mexican Riveriera....have you done this one....write back...looking forward to hearing from you...

 

Thanks for your very informative and VERY entertaining review! My GF and I will be taking our first RCL cruise on the Mariner Jan 20th so we'll be sure to share our experiences with everyone here at CC.
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